[password]waiknot
[position]22 46.402S 166 48.054E

[status]
We had an amazing day at Ilot Kouare yesterday. By 8.30am all the clouds had gone, giving us a brilliant blue sky. We went ashore for a walk around the island. The island is only about 400m long and 200m wide, so it is not a big walk to circumnavigate the island, but we were surprised at all the wildlife we saw in such a short time. This island is home to the White-capped Noody. This is a small, dark, almost black bird with a white cap on its head. Heather was standing, reading the sign board about the local Noody birds and felt a strange sensation on her foot....a sea snake was slithering right across the top of her bare foot!!! The snake did not seem to notice the yelp that followed this discovery, it slowly slithered right on by. During our walk we saw several more snakes, but Heather did not stand still for more than a moment for the rest of the walk! Next we saw two small turtles near the shore, swimming along in the shallows. Then sea eagles started screeching at us from above as they protected a large nest. Further on a flock of fairy terns were grazing on the reef, bouncing on air as they fly and pecking tiny fish from the surface of the water. The fairy terns look like the photo negative of the Noody as the terns are white with a black cap. Sometimes we saw mixed flocks of terns and Noddy birds, flying and feeding together. Further around the island we came across dozens of large crabs on the rocks - they scuttled away fast as we approached. Next we saw a baby black tip reef shark patrolling the shallow water by the rocks near shore. Before we knew it we were back where we started, with a bunch of Noody birds. What an amazing little island, so full of life! Later we snorkelled the entire reef on the north side of the island and enjoyed watching all the fish life under the water too. A wonderful place. Sadly we will need to leave Kouare today and make another hop towards Noumea. It is time for us to start preparing for our passage to NZ and we hope to depart next week depending on the weather.

[weather]
15 knots SE, 20 pct cloud, 1016 baro
[END]